Food for Thought with Suzanne Dunaway
(check Suzanne out on SUBSTACK)

CITRUS CHUTNEY

(from a work in progress ‘Crazy In The Kitchen, memorable, maximum tastes with minimal effort’)

A favorite accompaniment with my curries is my original citrus chutney, but it is also pretty tasty with chicken, pork, and turkey.

This chutney was born in my kitchen in Los Angeles when we built our first house on property that had an Amalfi lemon tree in the garden, and now that we have a Four Seasons tree in the garden of our third house, there are even more lemons to dispose of!

As in over 200 last season.

Neighbours and even total strangers are glad to take a few, but having so many lemons and my neighbor’s navel oranges help me turn out jars of this tangy citrus chutney, one I have never seen in shops that sell chutneys.

Our lovely lemons and my neighbor’s oranges are grown organically, so no pesticides or sprays to worry about.

I have also simplified this process, as I do with many recipes that started out long ago when I was experimenting with more formidable challenges, by using the bowl of my food processor to chop the citrus skins, but one could easily toss in the onion, garlic and apple to save even more time. Okay, okay I have done that and it works. Anything to shorten the process is fine with me if it gets the same results. Short cuts happen, thank heaven, after what seems like several eons of cooking.

The chutney

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 6 large lemons, seeds removed, chopped coarse
• 3 large navel seedless oranges, chopped coarse
• 2 sweet onions, chopped coarse
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped fine
• 1 large apple, peeled, cored, and chopped coarse
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch of clove
• Pinch of black pepper
• Pinch of hot red pepper
• Pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar (you may wish more in the end but I like a sharp chutney)
• 3/4 cup yellow or black raisins or currants

Juice the citrus and set the juice aside.
In the bowl of a food processor, put the juiced skins of the citrus, cut in quarters, the onion, garlic and the apple and pulse until the mixture is chopped into about 1/2-inch pieces.
In a large pot, heat the olive oil and add all of the spices to toast then for a minute or two.
Add the chopped fruit mixture and cook for another few minutes until the onion is translucent.
Add all of the juice from the fruit and stir well.
Add the sugar and raisins and stir well.
Cook over very low heat, covered, until the smell drives you nuts.
If the mixture looks too dry, stir it well from the bottom and add a bit more of orange juice or lemon juice, depending on the sweetness you prefer. Fresh-squeezed supermarket orange juice is fine but no bottled lemon juice, which often tastes fake.

I have also added a touch of balsamic vinegar at one time, but I like citrus juice and sugar only so that the citrus will shine through.

The mixture should not burn (add more juice or a little water if necessary) and should be shiny and tender when done, after about 45 minutes of low, low simmering.

Spoon into glass jars and seal tightly, or keep in plastic containers in the fridge for many weeks. If a little bit of “penicillin” dots your chutney, simply remove it and brush the top of the chutney with olive oil.

This chutney also freezes well. My chutney stays refrigerated for weeks and we’re still here…

All content and recipes are copyright of Suzanne Dunaway.